News & Events

September 18, 2012

International Symposium on Materials for Enabling Nanodevices dedicated to Professor James C. M. Li

James C. M. Li, the Albert
Arendt Hopeman Professor of Mechanical Engineering since 1971, continues to
receive well-earned recognition for his achievements. The Third International
Symposium on Materials for Enabling Nanodevices, held August 27 to 29 at UCLA,
was dedicated to Li in honor of his lifetime contributions to micro-mechanics
and materials science. His work has included research on new catalysts to
improve fuel cells, and lead-free solders to avoid "whisker growth,"
which can cause electrical shorts and disable multi-million-dollar satellites. Li
has received such prestigious awards as the Acta Metallurgica Gold Medal, an
international award for leadership in materials research from the American
Society for Materials (1990), and the Albert Easton White Distinguished Teacher
Award from the ASM International Materials Information Society (2007). A
special issue of Materials Science and
Engineering, dedicated to Li in 2005, cited his “seminal contributions to
understanding, predicting and controlling mechanical properties of materials,”
but added: “Perhaps the most important legacy of Professor Li has been the
outstanding cohort of scholars that he has successfully guided throughout his
long career.” Surely all who have benefited from his enlightened
teaching, as well as his groundbreaking research, will join us in
congratulating him for this latest in a string of accolades!